After another half an hour, the trio arrived at the cliff. Looking down, they saw a valley shrouded in mist. The mist was dense in some parts and sparse in others.
The sound of gently flowing waves was visible. Closing the eyes, one could imagine the relatively peaceful river below the mist.
The valley was adjacent to the two lands of summer and cold.
The river was sealed in one place by the holy barrier for hundreds of years, doomed never to flow into the Ashen Land and complete its journey
Delilah looked around and felt she had come here before, but she couldn't recall when exactly. The surroundings were familiar, yet not quite the same as she remembered.
She took a trip down her memory lane, trying to jog her memory, and something seemed to click. She realized that the place was missing its landmark, and that's why it felt familiar yet different.
The old and depilated wooden bridge was no more. Only its ruins could be seen.
She stood there for a moment, staring at the ruins of the bridge, and memories flooded back to her. She remembered crossing the bridge in a carriage with what she had come to consider a family while hearing the creaks of the boards and the rushing of the waves below.
The bridge wasn't taken care of properly for many years, and it was old, but it was a significant part of the village's history, and it was saddening to see it in ruins.
She might look cold on the surface, but she was a big softie inside.
"Isn't this the valley which we crossed to enter the summer land? What are we doing back here?" Delilah asked as she finished surveying the area and stopped her wandering gaze on that handsome face that had once appeared in her wet dream.
Roy felt embarrassment as he remembered how he had destroyed the old bridge while breaking the third limiter on his physical potential. He issued the fakest laugh he could to cover it up before daring to look at her.
"Didn't I tell you I have a way to enter the Ashen Land? It's somewhere in the river down below. I haven't been there myself, so I don't know where exactly." Roy answered her, a faint smile playing at the corner of his full lips.
He was so close to stealing the second fortuitous encounter of the Armored Knight. He had imagined such a day but didn't know it would come so soon.
Delilah frowned, crossing her arms over her chest. "Are you telling me we're going to go down there and start searching for it? How long is that going to take? A week?"
Roy chuckled softly, shaking his head. "No, it won't take that long. We don't need to search the entire river. The water currents will direct us to the gap in the holy barrier. It will lead us to our destination."
It was written in the novel that the Armored Knight was unconscious when he fell into the river.
The waves swept him into the Ashen Land.
Experiencing the same thing should give the same result. That was common sense.
Delilah's frown deepened, skepticism creeping into her voice. "Are you sure about that? It seems like a pretty big risk to just trust the currents to lead us to some hidden entrance."
It might not be visible, but she was worried. To an average person, Roy's plan seemed suicidal at best. The river wasn't the only thing they needed to worry about. It could be full of monsters. What if they were attacked?
Fighting local snakes was never easy, not even for a dragon. Her lord might be strong, but he can be outnumbered and suppressed while fighting on someone else's turf.
Shadowless was silent. He was born to follow his master's decision. Even if he were told to jump off a cliff, he wouldn't hesitate as long as the order came out of Roy's mouth.
Roy shrugged, his expression confident. "I have faith in my ability. Using defensive Force, I will enhance our defense so that no monster below the aura stage can harm us. In the river, we might be besieged like you said, but even then, we will be completely safe. I will keep us safe.
"And besides, what I need is in the Ashen Land, and this is our best shot to get hold of it. An opportunity like this won't come twice.
"Trust me, Delilah. We will be fine."
Since she was provided with a solution, her worries naturally died down. Her crumpled-up expression eased as she stopped frowning. She took a deep breath and nodded, steeling herself for the task at hand. "Okay. Let's get there and enter the river."
She jumped off the cliff but felt herself being grabbed. She was then pushed into a warm embrace. She was so familiar with it that she knew it belonged to Roy.
She raised her head and stared into his eyes, "What?"
"I am afraid we will be euthanized and gobbled up before we touch the shore," Roy said with a serious look in his eyes.
Delilah couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Gobbled up? What are you talking about?"
"See it for yourself," Roy said as he waved his hand. It was a nonchalant gesture, but it summoned a powerful internal force that slammed into the mist.
Delilah watched in silence as the mist parted before them, exposing a delicate network of webs that stretched from one wall to another.
"Wow," she breathed. "I had no idea..."
The webs were so intricate that they seemed to be woven with extreme precision, almost like a delicate piece of lace, but they were a death trap.
Roy's aura touched the network, giving birth to a vibration that rippled through the webs. The spiders that were sitting motionless on their webs jumped, instantly landing on the source of the disturbance. They were so fast that it seemed like they had teleported. Their long, spindly legs pierced thin air.
They rubbed their heads in confusion with their hairy legs as they found nothing and returned to their station.
